Football: California Love for CU Buffs

MacIntyre signs 13 from the Golden State

By Kyle Ringo Buffzone.com

Posted:
02/06/2013 07:04:48 PM MST

Colorado's move to the Pac-12 Conference has produced a lot of painful Saturdays on the football field so far but it has enabled the program to attract a record number of recruits from California in back-to-back years.

First-year coach Mike MacIntyre announced a crop of 20 new additions to the program on national signing day Wednesday, including two players who signed back in January and are enrolled in spring semester classes.

Thirteen members of the class were recruited from California. When added to the 10 California recruits in the 2012 class, the program has landed 23 recruits from one of the most talent-rich states in the nation in the past two cycles. The previous record was 19 California recruits becoming Buffs in 1995 and 1996, the first two years of Rick Neuheisel's tenure.

University of Colorado head football coach, Mike MacIntyre, talks about his first recruiting class at CU
(
CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

Since CU began tracking recruiting closely in 1973, the program has signed 10 or more recruits from one state in the same year only 11 times. This is the first time it has signed double-digit recruits in back-to-back years in any state other than Colorado. The only other times it has signed at least 10 recruits from California were 1986 and 1995 and both of those freshmen classes enjoyed plenty of success in their CU careers.

While MacIntyre and his staff are only partially responsible for this recruiting cycle -- 10 of the recruits committed to former coach Jon Embree -- MacIntyre is following through on a pledge he made during his introductory press conference in December when he said he would treat California as in-state recruiting.

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On Wednesday, MacIntyre said there is no doubt Colorado is enjoying more success recruiting California now that it's in the Pac-12.

"They're seeing us on television all the time and they can recognize that and they know we come back into their areas to play every year a couple times," MacIntyre said. "So I think that's a big part of it."

MacIntyre and the majority of his coaching staff came to CU after spending three years building San Jose State into a top-25 program. They accomplished that by leaving no stone unturned in California, visiting every high school in the state and building relationships with coaches. That legwork should only help CU continue to pull large numbers of recruits from California in the future.

But recruiting California isn't MacIntyre's only priority. He emphasized the need to improve recruiting in Colorado during his press conference on Wednesday. CU signed just three in-state players in this recruiting class, despite MacIntyre's best efforts to land more.

MacIntyre said he continued to recruit in-state players who had committed to other programs up to Wednesday morning, hoping to change some minds. He said he and his assistants have already visited 52 Colorado high schools with plans to visit them all this spring. He has offered scholarships to five in-state players for the 2014 class.

"We're doing our homework," MacIntyre said. "We're going to put four coaches in our state. We're going to see every school in the state in May and we've got a junior day coming up on March 9 that we're trying to get Colorado young men to come to. We're going to work it hard and that number will go up."

Colorado's class was ranked No. 67 in the nation by Rivals.com Wednesday night. Those rankings could still change slightly in the coming days as classes are finalized. It is the lowest ranking CU has received for a class in years. CU signed 13 players rated with three stars by Rivals.com and no players rated with four or five stars.

"There is a lot of great athletes, but I really think it boils down to their mind and their heart," MacIntyre said. "How committed they are and how much self esteem and how hard they keep working. I like kids with chips on their shoulders. I don't like kids who are entitled and think they've arrived. I don't think those kids will usually be successful in my opinion.

"I like to have a chip on his shoulder, got something to prove. Every day you wake up, look in the mirror and I'm going to prove it. Those are the type of kids I want on this football team."

MacIntyre said he believes some members of the class have the potential to help the team immediately next fall, but who those players are and how they fit into the plan will work itself out in the spring and summer.

The recruits most likely to earn immediate playing time next season are three California wide receivers Bryce Bobo, Elijah Dunston and Devin Ross. MacIntyre said one thing that stood out to him in reviewing film of last season was a lack of speed at receiver. Getting junior Paul Richardson back from a torn ACL and adding 2012 signee Jeff Thomas to the position will also help.

CU signed one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, two defensive ends, two defensive backs, five linebackers and five offensive linemen.

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